Fuel Consumption Impacts Of Auto Roof Racks

The empty roof rack had a nearly 2 percent impact on fuel economy which translates to a little more than three quarters of a gallon of gas.

Fuel consumption impacts of auto roof racks.

30 5mpg astra s baseline fuel economy. In fact it significantly cuts your highway mileage all the time it s installed whether there s weight up there or not. Two novel data collection techniques on line forums and crowd sourcing improve estimate. A bottom up approach reveals details of the fuel consumption penalty caused by racks.

How often do you see people needlessly driving around with roof racks on their roof. Sure it might earn you some cool points from some crowds but leaving a bike carrier luggage pod or other cargo toting device on top of your car can impact your fuel consumption and by a significant factor too. 30 4mpg two front windows a third open 30 3mpg roof bars and laden roofbox 30 2mpg two front windows totally open 29 7mpg four tyres. First estimate of national energy impacts of auto roof racks about 1.

Their study was published recently in the journal energy policy in a paper titled fuel consumption impacts of auto roof racks. Fuel consumption impacts of auto roof racks article pdf available in energy policy 92 325 333 may 2016 with 1 083 reads how we measure reads. They found that in 2015 roof racks nationwide were responsible for 0 8 percent of light duty vehicle fuel consumption or 100 million gallons of gasoline. He found that compared to the baseline of no roof rack the empty rack reduced his mpg by 12 7 and the roof rack with a bicycle reduced it by a whooping 27 3.

Their study was published recently in the journal energy policy in a paper titled fuel consumption impacts of auto roof racks in addition to projecting the fuel consumption penalty into 2040. Mileage went from 41 mpg at 65 mph to 40 mpg. The gear with the most impact were the dual mountain bikes strapped to the roof which impacted the fuel economy by 31 percent or 9 mpg. He compared the gas mileage of his car at 54 7 mph 88 kph with 1 no roof racks 2 an empty roof rack and 3 a mountain bike on the roof rack.